Winger Gabin Villiere ran in a hat-trick as favourites France began their Six Nations title bid with a thumping 37-10 bonus-point win over Italy at Stade de France on Sunday.
The Azzurri lost for a record-extending 33rd consecutive time in the tournament despite leading early in the first half.
Before kick-off, the 62,187 crowd at the Stade de France paid their respects to former France fly-half Guy Laporte, who died last month aged 69, with a round of applause.
One major absence from the stands was the hosts' coach Fabien Galthie as the former Test captain watched the game 40km away in the team hotel after testing positive for Covid-19.
The Azzurri were looking for a first Championship win since 2015 and their first ever in Paris and took a surprise lead when debutant Tommaso Menoncello gathered a kick to finish in the corner.
France struck back with Anthony Jelonch and Villiere tries and earned an eight-point lead into halftime.
Villiere ran through the Italian defence to cross again after the break before Damian Penaud added the bonus-point score, and Villiere dived over for his third.
"You're never alone in scoring tries, it's the work done beforehand that counts," Villiere told France Televisions.
"With the wind and the rain they put us under a lot of pressure but we remained calm.
"The score is there, the bonus point is there, we're not going to complain," he added.
"You could tell after 20 minutes we were lacking rugby together. Through the game I thought the boys did well," France manager Raphael Ibanez told ITV.
"Five tries and five points is good. Villiere is a warrior. He is a very good finisher. He is a good example for all of his team mates for his spirit."
France are level with Ireland on five points at the top of the table after the opening round, but ahead of them on points difference going into their meeting in Paris next Saturday.
"For next week we have to step up in every department. Ireland are not fourth in world ranking for nothing, the game they played yesterday was good," Ibanez added.
Italy face England in Rome next Sunday, where both sides will be looking to bounce back from opening-day defeats after the Englishmen lost in Scotland.
France kicked off the 2022 Six Nations as the favourites, having impressed in a November win over New Zealand, but they were without Galthie.
On the other hand, not much was expected from the Italians who were on a record 32-match Championship losing streak, and Jaminet’s boot soon had the hosts in front.
But the Azzurri, led by coach Kieran Crowley for the first time in the Six Nations, responded when Paolo Garbisi’s cross-field kick was plucked out of the air by 19-year-old Menoncello, who became the youngest Six Nations try scorer in 55 years.
An impressive start from Italy was undone when Stephen Varney's poor pass was intercepted by Jelonch for a simple run-in, and Villiere slid in at the corner in the final act of the first half after Garbisi and Melvyn Jaminet traded penalties.
France increased the pressure in the second half, but had to work hard to break down a stubborn Italian defence.
Gregory Alldritt’s knee-high offload sent Villiere through for France’s third try, and Penaud opened up a 20-point lead by exchanging passes with French captain Antoine Dupont to pull the Azzurri defence apart.
With the clock in the red, Villiere dived in at the corner to become the first Frenchman to score a Six Nations hat-trick since Vincent Clerc against Ireland in 2008.
"I'm not satisfied with the end result," Italy coach Crowley told reporters.
"I'm very happy with the heart and some of the aspects shown by the team, they put everything in but we were not quite accurate enough," he added.
Cherry
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo
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Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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HEADLINE HERE
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Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WallyGPT%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2014%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaeid%20and%20Sami%20Hejazi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%247.1%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%20round%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.